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Restarting antidepressants

So I played with fire! I stopped my antidepressants cold turkey. I was taking cipralex 10 mg for about 5-6 months for anxiety. Was feeling okay but after two months I felt the anxiety kick in again. I started getting crying spells too.
The only problem with restarting is, the last time I tried it gave me headache and nausea. Now, I have IBS too. Don’t know whether it was the medication or the IBS causing the stomach upset! I also felt a little bit itchy after taking a dose.

What do I do?!!! It’s all very confusing and making me paranoid.
I also do want to mention that the very first time I tried cipralex, nothing happened! No nausea or headaches. Doctor started me with 5 mg and later increased it to 10 after two weeks. But restarting did.
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973741 tn?1342342773
Honestly, for many MANY people anxiety starts out of the blue with no triggers whatsoever or life events.  It can start very early in life or later.  There is no rhyme or reason to who anxiety gets.  I do think anxiety is a little contagious.  If you have an anxious parent, you not only have a hereditary component to mental health issues but you also witness the anxiety and how it impacts someone in their lack of coping.  Does that make sense? We develop patterns and perhaps lack the tools to adequately deal with anxiety and THAT is often what therapy can really help us overcome or help us improve.  

You recognize that the medication was greatly helping with your symptoms of anxiety.  Lots of people stop their meds because they think they don't need them anymore or want to see if they need them and many have to go back on.  You are not alone and don't beat yourself up.  It just puts you in a position of going through the start up again.  It may affect you the same way when you begin taking the medication again or it may not.  Keep your mind open that it could be a different experience this time around.  The side effects from starting medication are transient and that helps to remember they are temporary in many cases.  If you get a headache starting out you know that it is only for a bit of time and gets better and often goes away as your body gets use to the medication.  Psychologically, ,that may help you 'muscle' through it to get to that end point of feeling like your anxiety is better again.  Many people do take medication throughout the majority of their life so you may or may not but don't feel alone in that either.  And those coping skills you learn in therapy help tremendously overall.  

So, run this by your doctor.  Start slow and titrate up if you can which helps with start up side effects and keep the big picture in view of feeling better in the long run.  good luck
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Hey thanks for the reply! As far as anxiety being contagious is concerned, I’ve definitely noticed that I might have gotten it from my mothers side. My mother herself is pretty panicky. Although some relatives from the fathers side have also said they’ve been depressed over time. But I’m sure genes have played a role.

And yes I have to be ready to start over. I’m starting therapy again too. I actually booked an appointment with my doc and she has said i definitely need to take the medicine again. So I’m starting again with low dosage. I’ll see how it goes and I’ll ask you guys for advice if needed.

Thanks again!
Avatar universal
These meds are like that.  You just never know what will happen or long it will last.  Digestive problems are one of the most common side effects of taking antidepressants.  It's also common for them to work differently when you try the same one a second time -- or not work at all anymore.  As for the IBS, if this started only after you started taking the drug, it's probably the drug as again, that's just another stomach problem and that's a common complaint.  Sometimes it's a magnesium problem, but serotonin is much more present in the digestive system than the brain, so it's not surprising this drug might have that problem.  I would ask if you are in therapy?  The fact the anxiety came back is pretty likely to happen once you develop a chronic problem because medication doesn't treat the cause (we really don't know what it is), it only makes us feel better.  Through therapy and lifestyle changes you might solve the problem altogether -- as well as that IBS.  And if this drug does this to you, you might try a different one.  
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Well I only have myself to blame there. The drug was actually working pretty well. I was taking 10 mg regularly. I only stopped suddenly because I didn’t want to prolong taking antidepressants (although it’s been 7 months since I started). I took half a pill after I wrote my post and I have to say I’m suddenly feeling a lot better mentally. There is slight nausea though. But bearable.

Therapy? I did try it. It helped but I don’t think the issue can be resolved via therapy as my anxiety started out of the blue without any real cause or life event. In fact my life has been pretty perfect except for my career which can be a cause. I don’t think a therapist can help me there. Atleast that’s what i feel
What you feel isn't what is necessarily true.  We all feel things, but therapy isn't what you think it is.  The main form of therapy recommended for anxiety sufferers, CBT, doesn't care a whit how you got anxiety in the first place.  It just tries to get you to recognize how you are thinking, how it's affecting you, and then give you some techniques to relax and change the way you think and then face the things you're anxious about.  No guarantee it will work and it takes a lot of work on your part, but again, most of us with chronic anxiety have no idea why we have it.  Even when stressful things happen and people become anxious after, they still have to have a predisposition for anxious thinking to get chronic anxiety -- everyone has hard times in life but most people don't develop chronic anxiety from them.  So even if your career is stressful, whose isn't?  Stress only causes chronic anxiety in those who already are predisposed for unknown reasons to react that way.  Stopping a drug abruptly can cause emotional problems you've never had before or make them much more intense, so it's just not something to do.  If you want to stop taking the meds, you still have to taper off as slowly as you need to so you don't give yourself new problems.  I have no idea if your issues can be resolved in therapy, mine never were, but I gave it years and years of trying because medication can't solve it, it can only tamp down the symptoms.  If you truly want to be free of the need to take meds you have to fix the problem that leads you to believe they are necessary.  If that doesn't work, you take the meds and make the best of it.  Peace.
And let me add, there a lot of physiological conditions that can cause what feels like anxiety.  Thyroid problems, hormonal imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, sleep problems, blood sugar problems are just a few of these.  
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